A legal battle over the $10 million 88 Central Park West home of a late Oscar-winning actress has finally reached settlement after six years, DNAinfo reported. Manhattan Surrogate Court ruled the 50-year-old husband of Celeste Holm, the screen and stage actress who died last month of a heart attack at age 95, must vacate the luxury apartment within the next five weeks at the behest of Holm’s sons from a previous marriage.
However, Holm’s husband, an opera singer named Frank Basile, told DNAinfo that he might not be able to afford his mandated relocation.
“I’m a human being who just lost my wife, and I have to move out of my home in less than five weeks, and have limited resources to do that” he told DNAinfo.
Holm’s sons have alleged that Basile married their mother, famous for her roles in “Gentlemen’s Agreement” and “All About Eve,” as part of a gold-digging scheme. The sons set up a trust in 2002 to protect their mother from alleged exploitation, but Holm tried to void the trust in order to give some of her inheritance to Basile. She countered that it was her sons who were trying to exploit her for the money. In 2010, the two sides reached a settlement as legal fees were weighing on the value of Holm’s estate.
Under the settlement, Basile will get one-third of the proceeds from the sale of the apartment, DNAinfo said. [DNAinfo]